I’ve been thinking a lot about Spartanburg’s driving culture, mostly that I don’t think it’s as uniform as we may imagine.

For a glimpse, stand on the corner of Henry Street and Church Street for about 10 minutes some day. You’ll see drivers ignoring stop lines, pulling into the crosswalk like it’s undesignated space. You’ll see drivers speeding up when the light turns yellow and continuing through as it turns red. With driver privilege at every cycle, it’s not an especially friendly intersection for pedestrians, bicyclists or even drivers.

Then go spend ten minutes at the intersection of Forest Avenue and the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail. You’ll see pedestrians and bikes and families and folks of all ages. And you’ll see drivers that slow down to look for trail users, and often stop in advance of their approach. You’ll see trail users wave to drivers who wave back. This is an intersection that is very friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists and drivers.

It’s a matter of design, mostly. Though people do walk on Church Street, and do cross at Henry Street, not much about the design of the intersection tells people that pedestrians have space at all. So drivers ignore pedestrian facilities, and pedestrians cross at their will, often away from the crosswalks because little encourages anyone to use them.

The wide crosswalks at all the intersections on the Rail Trail, on the other hand, along with signs reminding drivers to field to pedestrians and the frequent users have all created a predictability that generates comfort.

As our trails system expands, so too should a more friendly environment for all our modes of travel. It is up to us, drivers, pedestrians and cyclists—people—to assure that it does.

About This Blog

By Ned Barrett, Trails Coordinator at Partners for Active Living

I’ve been thinking a lot about Spartanburg’s driving culture, mostly that I don’t think it’s as uniform as we may imagine.

For a glimpse, stand on the corner of Henry Street and Church Street for about 10 minutes some day. You’ll see drivers ignoring stop lines, pulling into the crosswalk like it’s undesignated space. You’ll see drivers speeding up when the light turns yellow and continuing through as it turns red. With driver privilege at every cycle, it’s not an especially friendly intersection for pedestrians, bicyclists or even drivers.

Then go spend ten minutes at the intersection of Forest Avenue and the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail. You’ll see pedestrians and bikes and families and folks of all ages. And you’ll see drivers that slow down to look for trail users, and often stop in advance of their approach. You’ll see trail users wave to drivers who wave back. This is an intersection that is very friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists and drivers.

It’s a matter of design, mostly. Though people do walk on Church Street, and do cross at Henry Street, not much about the design of the intersection tells people that pedestrians have space at all. So drivers ignore pedestrian facilities, and pedestrians cross at their will, often away from the crosswalks because little encourages anyone to use them.

The wide crosswalks at all the intersections on the Rail Trail, on the other hand, along with signs reminding drivers to field to pedestrians and the frequent users have all created a predictability that generates comfort.

As our trails system expands, so too should a more friendly environment for all our modes of travel. It is up to us, drivers, pedestrians and cyclists—people—to assure that it does.